What is the difference between bandwidth and broadband ?

The internet providers always try to improve broadband quality as well as offer fast internet connection speed as much as possible. The chorus fiber and copper network are also being improved due to this reason. However, the broadband quality can be influenced by several other key factors. Fortunately, many of these things can be under your control. Apply this list of tips and suggestions if you want to get better broadband performance.

What is the difference between bandwidth and broadband?

What is the difference between bandwidth and internet speed

Many people often make misunderstandings between two terms of broadband and bandwidth. Naturally, they are different and served different functions.

In detail, the amount of data transferred through the network in a given period is referred to as bandwidth. The bandwidth of a data transfer rate defines its speed. Bandwidth is measured in bits per second, kilobytes per second, and megabytes per second. Otherwise, the term "broadband" refers to the width of a band. Broadband is used to present transmission capacity and speed.

To understand more, look at the picture below.

Difference between bandwidth and broadband

A gigabit Ethernet connection, for example, has a bandwidth of 1,000 Mbps (125 megabytes per second). A cable modem Internet connection can provide up to 25 Mbps of bandwidth.

 Broadband includes several high-speed transmission technologies such as:

• Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)

• Cable Modem

• Fiber

• Wireless

• Satellite

• Broadband over Powerlines (BPL)

So, broadband and bandwidth are totally different. With the 2 examples above, do not misunderstand them. 

Reasons for poor broadband speed in my area?

To solve slow internet as well as get better speedtest WIFI, you need to consider these factors below. Let’s keep reading.

Distance

If you are using the copper network, you will often face a slow network when you are far away from the cabinet or exchange.  VDSL services over the copper network can transmit signals within approximately 800 meters of the cabinet. Otherwise, signals are delivered through ADSL 2+ within two kilometers of the cabinet and ADSL within six kilometers of the cabinet.

Is fibre better than ADSL?

Instead, you can consider choosing fiber broadband for your home. In most cases, the transmission capacity of the fiber circuit is not affected. 

Capacity

A poor speed test for Wifi can be due to congestion. Of course, the more people connecting to the broadband, the slower it is. Moreover, during the day, sometimes, you will see the traffic on your network connection peak. It can happen in the afternoon when school finishes and at the end of the workday. 

The reason can origin from your neighborhood. There may be someone who tries to steal your broadband without your permission. Therefore, if you are using a wireless network, keep in mind changing your password regularly with a strong security password. This way can prevent this bad action in some way. 

The more people connecting to the broadband, the slower it is

Another factor that can affect capacity is backhaul, or how your property is connected to our core network. Your broadband provider will be able to look into this for you. If you doubt this is the reason for your slow broadband performance, call your internet provider to ask for help. 

Broadband plan

If your connection suddenly drops and you have been downloading a lot of content, there may be an excess of the data limit on your plan. Therefore, to solve this problem, you can increase your data allocation or even switch to an uncapped plan. 

See also: Speed check your internet speed: Find the suitable Broadband for you

Note to choose a suitable broadband

• Understand and analyze each type of broadband both advantages and disadvantages ( ADSL, cable, fiber, mobile broadband, and satellite broadband)

• Select broadband speed suitable for your whole family’s demand

• Compare and consider a promotive package of different internet providers

• In some cases, you can register a trial package and see whether it is good enough or not.

Choosing the right broadband package

How to check data limit?

To check as well as reset the data usage in Windows 10, you need to follow these steps below:

1. Use the combination Windows key and “I” keyboard shortcut to open the Settings app.

2. Click Network & Internet.

3. Select Data Usage. Under Overview, you can view the total data usage for Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections over the last 30 days.

4. Click the Usage details link. You will see the network data usage consuming from all your applications that are installed on your computer.

After looking at each data limit of different applications, you can reset it when it often exceeds that limitation. Continue to follow steps: 

5. Use the "Show usage from" drop-down menu, and click the Wi-Fi or Ethernet adapter if you want to reset.

6. Click the Reset usage stats button

7. Click the “reset” button

Your router

The age of your router also can affect your broadband performance. If your router ( or sometimes called a modem) is used for 5 years or more, there will be a worse performance in your broadband transmission. Because age is a key factor impacting all technology, it is better for you to upgrade routers every few years to keep up with advancements in broadband and wifi technology.

See also:

• Are you finding a good gaming router? Do not ignore these best ones
• Speed check online: Where to place a router for the best Wifi signals?

Your router must be compatible with your internet service provider. Some routers have maximum speeds of 100, 200, or 500Mbps, so check with your broadband provider to see if your router can handle the required speeds.

Using MySpeed to check your connection network anywhere, at any time. 

Do a broadband speed test

Wiring

One of the most common causes of broadband speed issues is poor-quality or outdated wiring. If your wiring has not been checked for a long time, it is possible that the wiring and jack points in your home were installed to provide a good phone service rather than high-speed broadband. To improve broadband speed, add filters to your jack points.

Hardware and Software

Outdated hardware and software are some of the leading causes of slow broadband performance. Therefore, you should do:

• Upgrade mechanical hard drives to SSD drives

• Upgrade PC’s memory

• Update your internet browser

• Delete old software you no longer use

• Use less memory from heavy software while running browsers

• Update your security software

Wifi versus Ethernet

The age and router’s place are able to affect the experience when you access the internet using your home WIFI. To get the best wifi signal as much as possible, make sure your router is positioned in the middle of your house, open space. Because the router works as a broadcast device, there should be not too many obstacles between your devices and the router.

See also:

• Speed test online: 7 places you will regret placing a router
• Do you know Bluetooth is affecting the Wifi signal strength?

Wifi vs Ethernet speed

Using Wifi, if you allow a number of devices to connect to your Wifi simultaneously, this can lead to your slow broadband. Especially, if you have limited capacity, this thing will be presented clearly.

Instead, you can consider selecting an Ethernet network. The ethernet cables are able to deliver data many times faster than Wifi as well as they are more stable. If possible, let’s plugin an ethernet cable to your computer.

See also: WiFi vs Ethernet speed, which is faster?

Technology

Gigabit Passive Optical Networks (GPON) technology transmits data over a fiber optic cable to and from your home using a light signal. Because light signals are not affected by distance or interference, it provides ultra-fast and ultra-consistent speeds.

ADSL and VDSL technologies use an electrical signal to transmit data to and from your home via a copper cable. However, these technologies have a drawback. That is distance and interference can influence the data transmitting speed. VDSL is a better version of ADSL when offering much faster speed.

Is VDSL better than ADSL?

Your devices

Your broadband performance is poor and the reason can be derived from your devices. Older versions of hardware or operating systems on the smartphone, tablet or computer make your devices have trouble processing high-speed broadband.

Make sure you often upgrade hardware and operating systems. Besides, check all your devices from computers, laptops, tablets or even smartphones have enough capacity for ultra-fast broadband technology or not. Updating software and protection against viruses or malware is also a good idea to improve your broadband performance.

Update malware and antivirus

How information travels

The websites that you are trying to hop on to online might not be able to respond at the same rate as your broadband connection. Otherwise, they are prevented by a firewall. If you are loading a website, their server could slow down your connection with the whirled circle. Whether in the world it is located or the technology the website is using, even if your broadband connection is top-notch, this situation still can happen.

Sometimes, running a VPN can help you visit the website at a stable speed. A VPN  or called Virtual Private Network is a tool that allows you to connect to the Internet by creating an encrypted tunnel. This tool will ensure your online privacy and protect your sensitive data.

VPN to speed up internet

Although you will get advice that turns off the VPN while running a speed check of the internet to get the nearly correct result, the VPN is still a tool to improve your broadband performance in some ways.

See also: Speed check: Can VPN increase your Internet speed?

Conclusion

There will not be a certain thing to improve your broadband performance completely. However, luckily, we can do something to control factors affecting network connection. Doing each way will not work effectively, you should try to apply all at the same time to get better results.